A New York appeals court has allowed Donald Trump to post just $175 million (€161.5 million) to delay enforcement of a $464 million fraud judgment, in a victory for the former US president who had claimed it would be “impossible” to obtain a bond for the full amount.
The ruling came as a 30-day grace period granted to Mr Trump by New York attorney general Letitia James, who brought the fraud case, was set to expire, paving the way for her office to seize Mr Trump’s cash and properties across the US.
In an order on Monday morning, a panel of five justices at the appeals court gave Mr Trump 10 days to find the new sum. They also agreed to delay the enforcement of non-monetary penalties imposed as part of the judgment, such as the barring of Mr Trump and his elder sons from running a business in New York and applying for loans in the state.
But they ruled that a monitor would remain in place at the Trump Organization in the interim, as would an “independent director of compliance”.
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Mr Trump was at a separate court across the road when the order was published, attending a hearing over whether to further delay his criminal trial over the alleged cover-up of “hush money” payments to an adult film star. The judge declined to do so, setting jury selection to begin on April 15th in what will be the first criminal trial against a former US president.
In a statement on social media soon after the appeals court’s decision, Trump said he would “post either a bond, equivalent securities, or cash”.
Later, he railed against President Joe Biden and Ms James in a speech at 40 Wall Street, a property the attorney-general had indicated could be seized if he could not secure a bond.
Mr Trump, who is the presumptive Republican nominee for president in the 2024 presidential race, reiterated his claims that the legal cases against him amounted to “election interference”, and claimed Ms James was “the puppet master of the judge” who oversaw the fraud case.
The order from the appeals court provided a significant reprieve for Mr Trump, who had been rushing to secure the cash for a bond after several insurance companies refused to accept his real estate holdings as collateral. He is facing a growing pile of legal judgments and costs as he defends against four separate criminal cases, in addition to the civil litigation, while mounting another expensive campaign for the presidency.
Mr Trump’s lawyers last week said his team had spent “countless hours negotiating with one of the largest insurance companies in the world” in order to secure an appeals bond for the full amount, concluding that “very few bonding companies will consider a bond of anything approaching that magnitude”.
In response, the attorney-general’s office suggested Mr Trump could instead secure a series of smaller bonds that would cumulatively cover the judgment.
The attorney general’s office said in a statement that Mr Trump was “still facing accountability for his staggering fraud”.
“The $464 million judgment – plus interest – against Donald Trump and the other defendants still stands,” it said.
Mr Trump previously managed to secure a separate appeals bond for a nearly $92 million judgment against which he is appealing, after having been found liable for defaming the writer E Jean Carroll.
That bond was underwritten by a subsidiary of the Chubb corporation.
Mr Trump also took the opportunity during his comments at 40 Wall Street to discuss his social media company Truth Social, which will begin trading on Tuesday on the Nasdaq market, saying “it’s hot as a pistol and doing great”.
In a statement, James Singer, a spokesperson for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, called Mr Trump “weak and desperate”, and claimed he lied “about having money he definitely doesn’t have”.
“America deserves better than a feeble, confused, and tired Donald Trump,” he added.
– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024
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